Beautiful people, bright lights, free-flowing drinks, glitzy
performers-the latest Hollywood premiere? Not exactly. At least
something seems different, as evidenced by the big screen above the
crowds, where you might expect to see Julia Roberts, Gwyneth
Paltrow or the latest Santana video. Instead, it glows with a
different kind of debutant, the newest Web star wannabe hoping to
stake its place on the dotcom landscape.

Welcome to the Internet launch party, a phenomenon that has fast
become modus operandi for venture-capital-infused Web start-ups
from coast to coast. It's an event where left brain meets
right, as conservative engineer types in company logo shirts and
investors in pin stripes hobnob with flamboyant artists in sequins
and pearls. All are gathered here with one goal in mind: to put
this start-up on the radar screen and transform a simple URL into
the "it" site of the year.

"In San Francisco, you're not part of the culture
unless you have a launch party," says 32-year-old John
Bracken, co-founder of Evite.com Inc., a site that creates online
invitations. "In fact, it's competitive now. People say
'We have to do it better than the other guy.' It generates
word-of-mouth, and people are always looking forward to the next
party."

Evite.com knows all about shelling out big bucks for a launch
party. The 3-year-old San Francisco company dropped $70,000 on its
launch bash last year, an event that attracted more than 700
guests. Bracken says it was money well spent. "It was the
perfect marketing vehicle for a company like ours because we're
all about throwing parties," he says.

While a party may be a no-brainer for an invitation site, Web
companies with all kinds of business models, from click-and-mortar
product sites to online directories, are getting in on the act. In
fact, throwing a big bash to announce one's "arrival"
and to celebrate other major events in a site's lifecycle has
almost become expected in Internet circles.

Once considered the domain of big Hollywood studios, today's
large, lavish parties are the work of burgeoning dotcoms hoping to
generate the buzz that will send an impressive volume of traffic
careening toward their pages. With more and more invitations
hitting e-mail servers every day, the events have become firmly
embedded in the cultural fabric of major tech centers. "The
goal is to put a very important public stake in the ground for the
dotcom," says consultant Murem Sharpe, whose Bloomfield Hills,
Minnesota, firm, 24x2, helps Internet start-ups shape their
business strategies.

That stake can be quite expensive, usually ranging from $20,000
to $50,000, says Sharpe. Not to say there's a limit: The bill
for a recent San Francisco launch gala exceeded $200,000, a fee
that covered everything from champagne to circus performers.

"The head count will be at least 200 to 300 people, and the
food alone will be $50 to $100 a head," says Sharpe. Most
companies overdo it with refreshments, she adds, and skimp on the
good giveaways, like T-shirts, hats and other tchotchkes with the
company logo. "That's where many companies fall down on
the job-they spend a lot on the food but don't bother to spend
a little more on the giveaways that will solidify the
brand."

Launch Party To Beat The Competition

Ironically, as the size and expense of dotcom parties continue
to escalate, big Hollywood galas celebrating movie premieres or new
music releases appear to be on the decline. Adam Rymer, a strategic
planning executive for Universal Music Group, says promoters
started opting out of big parties because they didn't prove to
be the most effective way to get press for entertainment acts.
Rymer, who used to work for the digital music site Webnoize,
believes this is also true for dotcom parties, but he says these
events serve another purpose.

"I don't think the [dotcom] parties are all that
effective at generating a buzz, but it seems they are something you
have to do," Rymer explains. "Somebody's going to
have the party, and it's either going to be you, or it's
going to be your competitor. For every dotcom, there are five other
ones competing for the same space. Odds are, the one that is
spending the most money for the party is going to win
out."

The company that throws the party may influence the market
space, Rymer adds. "People connect [the market] with
you."

James Marciano, 33-year-old founder of TheSquare.com Inc., a
networking site for Ivy Leaguers and alumni from other top schools,
agrees that big parties are critical to getting a Web business
noticed. However, he disagrees that a company needs to spend big
money to throw one. TheSquare attracted more than 1,300 people to
its recent relaunch party at a New York City night club. Guests
included industry executives, marketing professionals, members of
the press and investors, as well as site staff and members. The
event, which Marciano claims was one of the largest Internet
parties ever held in New York City, only cost about $5,000. His big
secret: a cash bar.

"When people spend hundreds of thousands on a party, we
just think it's a waste of money," says Marciano.
"You can achieve the same effect without spending that much
and by having people pay for their own drinks."

The dotcom buzz around Marciano's party started as early as
the invitation process, which took on a viral nature itself.
"My marketing director put out three or four e-mails to some
of her friends from her old job at an Internet industry trade
group," he recalls. "Right after we announced it, she
called me and said, 'James, we have 350 people signed up
today.' By the next day, we had 850 people, and we hadn't
even invited our members yet."

Party Preparation

In many cases, a party's ability to generate talk depends on
the marketing prowess of the people hosting it. Sherri Foxman, a
Cleveland corporate events coordinator who has attended several
West Coast dotcom bashes, says branding skills appear to be sorely
lacking in many of the events. She notes that one recent launch
party she attended didn't even have the company's name on a
welcome sign.

"It was basically a lot of food and a lot of alcohol, like
those electric lemonades and things like that, but there was
absolutely nothing there that said 'This is who we are; this is
what we're all about,' " Foxman recalls. "I
was shocked. I could have just as easily been at a Friday night
bar."

Foxman, who provides a profusion of party ideas and products on
her site, Party411.com, can easily rattle off a number of ways to
help guests remember what your party is about. These can range from
organizing games around the theme of your Web site to handing out
keychains embossed with the company logo. "Then, the next day,
guests won't be saying 'Oh there was so much food and
liquor at that party.' Instead, they'll say, 'Did you
know that company does this and this?' " she says.

Evite focused heavily on themes and entertainment-oriented
activities, such as a golf cage and a casino. They also hired a
zany, 1970s-style hair band called the Cheeseballs. "All this
fit our image perfectly," says Bracken. "We're about
bringing people together and having fun; we help people organize
all kinds of social events. The party was a way of communicating to
our customers what Evite is all about."

Creating Hype

Evite.com's efforts to create a buzz have not been limited
to its parties. The company comes up with all sorts of ways to get
noticed, including driving around town in the multicolored Evite
VW. "You need to create reasons for people to talk about
you," Bracken says. "That's why people go to a
site-because it was recommended by their friends or it piqued
someone's curiosity." Evite's tactics have apparently
met with some success: The site recently won a coveted Webby award,
the Internet's version of an Oscar.

Just as Evite has activities to keep the site high-profile,
TheSquare.com has networking events throughout the year. Marciano
says that's the way you "rise above the noise."

The launch party should not be an isolated event, Sharpe points
out, but rather part of a PR plan that takes the company from seed
funding and early development through its IPO and beyond. A
party's success is determined by whether it is consistent with
a company's brand strategy and whether the company follows up
afterwards with contacts made. "If the money is spent wisely,
the party is a very good investment in brand development and
relationship building with the partners, the investors and the
press," Sharpe says. "The only time it's not a good
use of money is if it's not done well."

Finishing Touches

Some ideas for making an impact with your party:

Be selective about
your first invites. Try to find influential members of the press,
investment community and industry. Then invite these people to
bring friends.

Put something at the
party entrance that screams what your site is all about. Put your
URL on a huge welcome banner.

Put changing
screen-shots of your site above the party floor.

Only hire celebrities
if they fit your theme. Most of the time, celebrities are
overrated, and sometimes, they don't even show up.

Plan activities
around your theme. If you have a sports site, set up a mini
basketball court.

If money is tight,
consider hors d'oeuvres rather than a smorgasbord.

Get sponsorships from
partners. They may pick up the food tab, for example, if you put
their logo on one of your banners.

Put out a bowl for
business cards, and ask people who are leaving if they'd like
to be on your mailing list for future events. Be sure to follow
up.

Julie Vallone is a Northern California business and
technology writer who has crashed dotcom parties throughout the
Silicon Valley and beyond.